While the Las Vegas Convention Center is the largest venue with more than three million square feet, there are many smaller convention centers and hotels where trade shows are held. With so many visitors coming to the city, a Las Vegas trade show can mean big business for any exhibitor, if they do it right. The following are the keys to running a successful trade show exhibit in Las Vegas.

 

Get A Good Space

 

When planning for a trade show, reserving a booth space should be one of the first tasks on your list since the best spots get snapped up early. When selecting a location, you need to consider two main factors: visibility and foot traffic. For maximum visibility, try to choose a spot that can be seen directly from the entrance to the exhibit hall.

To get the most foot traffic, look for major traffic patterns. Try to get a spot on a major route leading out of the convention hall, for example, or toward the restrooms or food court.

Since prime locations can be hard to get, you may need to compensate for a less than ideal location by adding extra lighting or a creative, eye-catching gimmick. See tips below for designing an attractive exhibit that will stand out amid the chaos.

 

Prepare Your Staff

 

The people who run the booth are as much a part of the exhibit as any product on display. Staff members should not only look their best, but they should be easy to distinguish as representatives of your company or brand.

Consider having booth staff wear branded apparel or graphic t-shirts that advertise your product. Staff members should also be trained in interacting with prospective customers or clients.

Choose people for this job who have a naturally outgoing personality, and prepare them to answer all questions that visitors are likely to have. In addition, booth staff should be good at listening to and finding common ground with prospective customers or clients.

 

Promote Your Exhibit In Advance

 

Another important step to take long before the trade show begins is to get the word out. Make sure to extend a personal invitation to clients, customers, vendors, and other business partners. If you have any media or PR contacts, let them know as well. Invitations should include your booth number and location as well as last-minute contact information.

In addition, it’s important to publicize your participation in the trade show on your website and social media accounts. You can let your followers know about the products and services you’re planning to display by posting a teaser video or an eye-catching announcement. You can also provide a link to set up appointments to meet with attendees at the trade show. To generate more buzz, post announcements and reminders with increasing frequency as the date of the event approaches.

 

Use Social Media To Attract Visitors During The Trade Show

 

Your promotional efforts don’t end the moment the trade show begins. Once the trade show is up and running, it’s more important than ever to motivate your audience to visit your booth. The following are some of the top strategies for using social media to keep interest high:

Create a hashtag for the event if there isn’t one already, and use another one specifically for your booth. Tags help followers stay up to date and find important announcements.

Advertise in-person rewards for doing things like checking in at your booth on Facebook, liking your Facebook page, or writing a review of your product. Invite people who do these things to stop by your booth to pick up a special promotional gift.

Create a physical comment wall using a whiteboard or a chalkboard and encourage all visitors to leave a message, draw a picture, or simply sign their names. Use your hashtag to post photos of the comment wall as the messages grow.

Post visitor’s photos on Facebook or Instagram. When people see their friends and coworkers tagged in your photos, they’ll be curious to find out who you are and why their friends are interested in your business.

 

Go The Extra Mile In Terms Of Booth Design

 

A trade show is a chaotic environment, and every booth is competing for traffic. To have a booth that stands out from the crowd, it’s worthwhile to invest in quality design, even if that means going to fewer trade shows per year.

Even booths that don’t have a prime location can attract more than their fair share of visitors if they can offer a unique, fun, and memorable experience.

Booth design should always represent the exhibitor’s brand with clear, consistent images, colors, and logos. But a booth should also be designed to appeal to target customers.

An organic food distributor might design a booth to have the look and feel of a corner grocery, for example, while an exercise equipment company might draw customers with a booth that evokes a gym.

Many companies opt to rent a booth rather than purchase one; however, the danger in renting is that you might end up with a cookie-cutter exhibit that will blend in rather than stand out from the crowd. Fortunately, it is possible to rent a custom-designed booth. For example, Exponents offers custom design and installation services for all of their booth rentals in Las Vegas.

 

Offer An Engaging Experience

 

A booth is more than just a place to visit. At its best, a trade show booth is an experience that visitors will enjoy and remember. The following are some of the top strategies for capturing visitors’ attention and keeping it.

Provide interactive content. One of the best ways to engage visitors is to let them explore your content on a touch screen. This could mean letting visitors go through a slide show at their own pace or select videos to view.

Let visitors play a game and win a prize. Most people enjoy games and feel excited at the prospect of winning something. The best games for a trade show are simple, fast, and familiar, like spinning a prize wheel or putting a golf ball into a cup.

Hold a contest. A contest adds an element of competition that a simple game doesn’t have. Some typical contest ideas include trivia games, guessing games, and raffles. Promotional gifts, like branded t-shirts or USB drives, make excellent prizes for games or contests.

Give a live demo. A live demonstration is a form of entertainment that will nearly always draw a crowd, especially if you do the work of promoting the demo online. A demo not only entertains the audience, but it also serves to educate them about the product and show how it works.

 

Take Advantage Of Networking Opportunities

 

A trade show isn’t just a place to sell to new prospects. It can also provide an opportunity to network with other professionals in your field. For example, you can meet people who are in an overlapping but non-competing business and share lists of prospects. In many cases, conferences and trade shows can lead to profitable and long-lasting business partnerships.

In order to take advantage of the networking potential, you’ll need to have some space in your booth set aside for a sit-down meeting.  Make your guests feel at home with comfortable chairs, water to drink, and snacks to munch on. Giving your guests a place to rest their feet and recoup their energy will make for a more productive conversation.

 

Follow Up After The Event

 

It’s important to follow up immediately with all the new contacts you made at the trade show.

When you call or send an email, make sure to remind the contact who you are and what your business is all about. If possible, refer to something specific you talked about at your trade show meeting.

Following up with a new contact made not lead to an instant sale, but it’s a great way to build your email list and nurture your relationship with a future customer or client. Make sure to add them to your invitation list for the next trade show you participate in.

 

Final Tips

 

A trade show in Las Vegas can give a high return on investment, but it can also demand a huge amount of hard work, long hours, and detailed advanced planning. At the end of a long day on the trade show floor, you may be tempted to go out and socialize with colleagues and prospects. However, it’s important to make sure you’re still getting enough sleep, eating nutritious food, and even getting in a little exercise.

By taking care of yourself, you can keep up the energy level that a multi-day trade show requires. If possible, schedule an extra day just to be a tourist so that you can still take advantage of the great restaurants and one-of-a-kind entertainment that Las Vegas has to offer.